Iron Phoenix

New Life

A/N: Huge thanks to @NicktoN32K for the awesome new cover! Anyway, enjoy the chapter - it's a long one this time!

The trip back to New London seemed interminably long. The extended mission had meant that they needed to refuel in the air, so it was well into the afternoon when they started heading back. Kana's stomach growled. She hadn't eaten all day. To top it all off, now that the adrenaline of the battle was wearing off, her arm was throbbing painfully, and she had taken to flying one handed with the main joystick. She hadn't thought she would miss the gaggle of voices in her ear, but the painful silence over the radio was starting to bother her.

She had briefly debated saying something but had no idea what. She figured glad we're not dead – eh guys, wouldn't come across too well. She sighed, gazing out of the cockpit's canopy at the sapphire waves racing below her. Despite what she had just witnessed, everything seemed so peaceful out here; vast openness stretching before her like nothing she'd ever seen. She hated the goliaths for taking this view away from everyone, for making it so that people had to cling to the cities for protection. Someday, she would make sure her father could come out to the sea again too.

Catching herself lagging behind, she pulled forward and back up to Jackson's side. She looked over for a second, only to see his mouth moving, talking to the radio. Confused, she fiddled with her earpiece. Nothing. Either it had suddenly broken, or-. A cold sense of unease crept into her bones as she turned back to survey the ocean. She didn't know what they were talking about, but being purposefully left out certainly wasn't a good sign. She realized that she also had no idea what was in store for her when they got back, though an angry Captain Roth sure didn't sound pretty. Or - never mind Roth, could this go even higher? Sure, she had messed up at the start, but her landslide had saved the outpost, hadn't it? Not that she had gotten permission for it in the first place... Her thoughts began to swirl, and she tried to block them out, staring at the horizon and marvelling at how quickly the rush she had felt after the battle had evaporated.

***

As the canopy hissed open, Kana gulped. She had seen Roth and Holden waiting on the tarmac as the squad taxied into the hanger, their expressions unreadable. She took a deep breath as she stood, trying to calm the raging ball of nerves in her stomach. She would meet them with her head held high, no matter what might follow.

Her footsteps echoed in the cavernous space as she strode towards them, their forms silhouetted against the glare of the floodlights. As she stood in front of them, she looked Roth right in the face, standing straight up, her heart pounding in her chest. Waiting.

Roth took one look at her and sent her to the base's clinic.

***

Sitting in the small office, sunlight streaming in through a window and a paper cup of water in her hand, Kana had only just realized that she was shaking. She gulped down some more of the water. It had been a long day – it was already six o'clock and she was expected back for debriefing soon.

The doctor, a kindly old man in his sixties, had wrapped her arm and reassured her that it was just a bad strain – she could even go straight back to training as long as she rested it for the rest of the time. He had even offered her a granola bar from his desk drawer after hearing her stomach rumble loudly, which she ate hungrily.

When he came back with a note for Roth, she thanked him and headed off, feeling only slightly better equipped to face whatever the debriefing threw at her. She wandered down the long hallway, doors and smaller corridors heading off in all directions. It had come as little surprise when the clinic Roth had talked about looked far more like a fully equipped miniature hospital than the dusty nurse's office she might have imagined earlier in the day. There were only so many times LITE could surprise her.